Pathfinder Cards: "Curse of the Crimson Throne Item Deck" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

This deck contains 54 item cards designed for Curse of the Crimson Throne.  I should say at the outset that I’ve never really seen the point of item cards—in any Pathfinder campaign, the PCs will accumulate treasure at such a rate that it would be pretty much impossible to have every item in their possession symbolised by a card.  And if every item in their possession isn’t symbolised by a card, the remainder has to be kept on a list, and why not just dispense with the cards and keep the list?  But I’ll set all that aside and assume I must just be missing something, as a lot of gamers must enjoy item cards like these since they’re still being made.

I’ve used these cards throughout my running of the AP  to add some visual flavour to some of the memorable or important items the PCs might encounter.  On the front of each card is the name of the item, a symbol denoting the type of item it is (potion, scroll, etc.), artwork of the item, a symbol at the lower left denoting what deck it’s from (a little red tower for this deck), and a cool border.  The back of each card has a little written description of the item and a large space where handwritten notes about it could be added.  So for example, the “Heavy Crossbow” card features a drawing of a heavy crossbow (naturally), a little sword symbol indicating it’s a weapon, and a description on the back: “Sturdy steel mechanisms abound on the hardened oak stock of this heavy crossbow.”  The vast majority of cards are like this, and suitable for use in any campaign.  With some exceptions discussed below, I didn’t find they added particular flavour to Curse of the Crimson Throne.  A GM shouldn’t feel that they’re depriving the players of anything if they run the adventure path without them.

SPOILERS!

The tricky part about using these cards is that for some of the cards, the artwork clearly does represent something specific from Curse of the Crimson Throne but without the card title indicating it as such.  For example, one of the “Full Plate” cards is clearly of Gray Maiden armor, the “Dress” is Ileosa’s beautiful green dress, the “Figurine” is the magic jade elephant in Arkona Palace, and (perhaps most importantly) the “Crown” is the Crown of Fangs.  Neither the title nor the description on the back explain any of this, which I guess aids in the cards being reusable in different campaigns but limits how much value they have within the AP.  As I said, I have tried to use them to depict unique items in the game and I think the players like it when I can, but they’re certainly not essential.